


The Time Lord with a broken smile

by EBDaydreamer



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode: s01e06 Dalek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 10:17:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12033840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EBDaydreamer/pseuds/EBDaydreamer
Summary: Rose has finally convinced Adam to go to sleep, but now she has someone else to deal with.





	The Time Lord with a broken smile

**Author's Note:**

> For Nine Month, doctorroseprompts on tumblr: “Hurt/comfort after Dalek”

Slumping against the TARDIS wall, Rose sighed as she finally convinced Adam to go to sleep, he could see the universe tomorrow. Sure, he was cute and all, but the Doctor needed her right now, whether he knew it or not.

Unsurprisingly, he was buried under the grating of the console room. She knew he heard her, so she didn’t say a word, curling up on the jump seat. They stayed in comfortable silence, until the Doctor eventually spoke up, “Not spending time with your new boyfriend?”

“Nah. Finally got him down for his nap,” she tried for a joke, pretty sure she wasn’t imagining the muffled chuckle. “I wanted to see you.”

He still wasn’t looking at her. “Not much to see ‘m afraid. Just doing some rewiring.”

Rose raised a brow. “Does that actually need doing or are you just distracting yourself?”

“Distracting myself from what, Rose?”

“What happened today!” she raised her voice for the first time. “Seeing that Dalek obviously shook you-”

“Rose,” he warned.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been hugged that tight and-”

“Don’t.”

“You were going to kill it! Your face! You were…” her voice lowered as she came to a realisation. “You were scared of yourself.”

He turned to her, looked her dead in the eye.

“I’ve done much worse than kill one Dalek, Rose. I killed them all, everyone in the Time War. Daleks, Time Lords, everyone on Gallifrey. Gone in an instant. I did that. In comparison, one Dalek would be nothing.”

The raw emotion in his eyes was enough to make her cry.

“Gallifrey?” she asked instead. “Was that what your planet was called, Gallifrey?”

“Yes,” he breathed.

She shifted off the jump seat and instead sat on the grating by the Doctor’s head. “What was it like?”

He gulped down the sob threatening to break free and pushed himself out from under the grating. “Not tonight,” he told her gently, before standing up and turning to the console, pretending to be occupied.

Sensing she’d overstepped the line, Rose let it go, standing up and staring at his back. She couldn’t just leave him now, not like this, not after today. The Dalek had called her the woman he loved, and whilst she wasn’t sure if that were true or not, she needed him to know he was still loved, even with his planet gone. At that moment, Rose thought of the vow she made herself stood in the busy London street after watching the world end: she would always be there for him, in any way he needed.

Prompted by this fire, Rose boldly stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around the Doctor’s waist. She rested her cheek against his back and decided leather was her new favourite smell. Tightening her hands together against his stomach, she felt his shaky exhale as he relaxed into the hug.

She wasn’t going anywhere - not now, not ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is inspired by a line from Maroon 5's 'She Will Be Loved'


End file.
